Color Coding
by Lady Arachne
Summary: The colors used in plays have their meanings, each one a bit different from the others. These colors can best show the milestones and moments in Harry's and Neville's relationship. One-shots. (slash)
1. Blue

**Color Coding-** Lady Arachne

**Summary:** The colors used in plays have their meanings, each one a bit different from the others. These colors can best show the milestones and moments in Harry's and Neville's relationship. One-shots. (slash)

**Word Count:** 616

**Blue****-** calm, cold, formal, spiritual, pure, truthful, depressing

**Author's Note:** Takes place after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries (Fifth Year)

**Edit: **After rereading the summary, I realized that this could be mistaken for a chapter-fic. I'm sorry for the confusion, but this is a one-shot collection. ***grins sheepishly* **

-Chapter 1: Blue-

Harry tried to feel calm, tried to keep his emotions in check. And for the most part Harry succeeded. The events that have only happened moments before were like a distant memory in his mind. Yet he knew that once he was back in his room at Private Drive, everything would come rushing back to him relentlessly.

The old fashioned cameras flashed brightly, dazing him and making him see spots as each photo was taken. There was a buzz in his ears, reporters each trying to get their questions heard.

A solid arm wrapped around his shoulders, and Harry looked up, expecting to see the warm hazel-brown eyes of his lover. But dull, blue eyes that were lacking their natural twinkle stared back at him before the gaze shifted to those in front of him. Dumbledore answered as many questions as possible, the threat of Voldemort more real now that he had made his appearance at the Ministry. The Minister and almost every official saw Voldemort, it was hard for Fudge to cover up the fact that the Dark Lord was back now that almost every wizard and witches working the court saw the dark wizard himself in person.

Harry was struck with the sudden yearning to have his lover by his side, forcing the other emotions running through him to the side, leaving Harry to feel cold inside. Desperate to see him, Harry's gaze rapidly went around the atrium, taking in the unfamiliar faces when he finally spotted Neville standing a few ways behind him.

Harry was relieved to see that most of the injures Neville had obtained during the battle were somewhat healed, but Harry wished that Neville was at his side. Neville smiled weakly, but stayed back and Harry understood at once. The world didn't know about their relationship. They had to pretend that they didn't love each other like one would to their partner, they had to pretend that their relationship didn't go beyond that of being friends. Harry and Neville were thankful to be known as friends, they didn't know what they would have done if they had to act formal around each other in public. If it wasn't for the distractions the Triwizard Tournament and everything that happened after caused, and Hermione's quick thinking, the whole wizarding world would have known about them. The only people who knew about their relationship were his best friends, Ron and Hermione, Remus, Dumbledore, and...Sirius.

Harry stifled a sob, the memories of Sirius's death still fresh in his mind. The image of the killing curse hitting Sirius, his body falling into the Veil, and then disappearing from sight, from the world of the living. Harry had never felt such a moment of sorrow and guilt than what he had felt as Remus held him back from following Sirius into the Veil.

Harry couldn't believe that such a spiritual thing like the Veil could take someone so important from Harry. The door that linked the afterlife to the world of the living. It took his godfather, the man who was pure at heart, wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit. The man who had always been truthful to him, tried to keep him informed of the happenings of the Order. Now he was dead, killing a part of something deep inside of Harry, leaving him feeling hollow and cold to the events that happened afterward.

Still staring at Neville, he took in the reassuring smile and felt that something slowly healing. Given time, he knew that this depressed feeling would past and he would feel whole again. But until then, he will need Neville and all his friends at his side, for this was only the beginning.

-End-

**Author's Note:** Hey, all! This is a new series I've started a few months ago. The idea came to me when we were learning about the uses of colors in plays in my Theater Arts class and I couldn't resist not writing this. Although, now that I'm looking at it, it's kind of poorly written. I've fixed it as much as I could and only hope that you guys enjoyed this! ***grins***

There's going to be twelve chapters, each with a different one-shot about a different color. I've only got five written so far, and I have to back into the groove of the story before starting on chapter six, so I hope you all will be patient with me. Really hope you guys liked this, please leave a review on what you thought!

Until next chapter, cya!

-Lady Arachne


	2. Orange

**Color Coding-** Lady Arachne

**Summary:** The colors used in plays have their meanings, each one a bit different from the others. These colors can best show the milestones and moments in Harry's and Neville's relationship. One-shots. (slash)

**Word Count:** 856

**Orange:** exhilarating, cheerful, lively

**Author's Note:** Gryffindors winning Quidditch Cup (3rd year)

-Chapter 2: Orange-

The feeling of flying around on the Firebolt was exhilarating. After Hermione had snitched to Professor McGonagall about receiving the broom from an unknown sender, Harry had thought he would never see the broom again. But here he was, zipping around the field as he searched for the Snitch, his broom moving faster than the others. It was an amazing feeling, and he loved it.

Harry paid attention to the game happening below him while looking for the Snitch. Wood had repeatedly told him that if they had any hope of winning the house cup, he would need to catch the Snitch _after_ they had scored over fifty points.

"Ooh! That was a nasty hit - these Slytherins are not playing nice - Angelina takes the Quaffle - she's shooting and...! Ouch! Clipped on the shoulder by a Bludger, that got to hurt! - Flint now has the Quaffle, he's making his way across the field, dodging Bludgers and everything alike- someone ought to aim one for his head-"

"JORDAN!" Professor McGonagall's voice shouted throughout the field.

"Sorry, Professor! Oh, Flint's making his shot and makes it! Ah man, twenty-four to ten." Fred's and George's friend, Lee Jordan, commentaries the game. Harry watched the Slytherin team play dirty, this has got to be the roughest game ever at Hogwarts.

Harry ignored Malfoy, who was tailing him and throwing taunts at him and about his team. Harry tried to ignore the cheerful crowd, but couldn't help but grin as he flew past each House stand; all houses, except Slytherin, were cheering Gryffindor on. No one wanted Slytherin to win again. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw all cheered at each score his team made and booed whenever the Slytherin team scored or cheated.

Harry kept an ear on Jordan, listening to each score Gryffindor made. Thirty, Forty-six, Forty-eight...it was when Katie, a Gryffindor Chaser, was about to make the shot when Harry spotted the Snitch. It was down below, an inch above the ground. Harry tried to make it look like he hadn't noticed it, waiting for Katie to score, but a blur speeding past him told him that Malfoy had spotted the Snitch, too, and Harry hurriedly took off after him. With his Firebolt, he was able to catch up to Malfoy. They were neck-and-neck, both reaching out, ready to capture the Snitch before the other.

"Come on! Come on!" Harry whispered, urging his broom to go faster. As if hearing his pleas, the broom suddenly got ahead of Malfoy and Harry shot his hand out. He held his clenched fist up.

"Katie scores and- Harry Potter got the Snitch! Gryffindor wins!" The rest of Lee's commentary, and the final scoring, was drowned out by the cheering crowds, even the Slytherins booing couldn't be heard over the roaring voices.

Harry grinned, the Snitch still clutched tightly in his hand. Wood was flying toward him with tears in his eyes and hugged him tightly. The rest of the team came and they floated to the ground in a laughing heap.

As Harry was being lifted onto Fred's and George's shoulders, the Quidditch Cup held in the air in his hands, he spotted a blond haired boy with hazel-brown eyes in the crowd. Harry's grin widen at the sight of his secret best friend, and Neville grinned back, hands clapping rapidly. He and Neville have been close friends since first year, after Harry had went to apologize to Neville for what he, Hermione, and Ron did to stop him from outing them that night. Ever since then, they had been best friends, although both weren't ready to come out and show it in public. Neville dreaded the idea of what everyone in the school would think when they reveal that Harry was hanging out with someone like Neville; especially when word would reach his Grandmother of their friendship.

But the thing Harry and Neville were so happy about today was that Neville had written to her about their friendship a week ago and had finally gotten a reply today saying that she approved their friendship, as long as it doesn't affect his grades.

The party after the game was lively, everyone was high-spirited and having a good time. Fred and George were doing tricks for the crowd, doing creative stunts with the spells they've learned in classes. Angelina and Katie were near the fireplace, recounting the match with fervor with a group around them hanging onto every word. In the corner, in their usual spots, were Ron and Hermione. Tonight was the night that Harry and Neville revealed that they were best friends, both figuring that now was a good time than ever. Ron and Hermione took it well, though they were a little hurt at being kept in the dark about it.

Not wanting to ruin the festive mood, they agreed to talk about it later, easily accepting Neville into the group. And they spent the night talking, Ron urging Harry to tell what had happened when he spotted the Snitch, and everything was okay after that, even the whole Sirius Black debacle went well. Though, as they were outside sitting under a tree, Hermione lecturing them to do their homework, Neville grinning shyly sitting next to Harry and Ron as they ignored her and goofed off, Snape walked past them and with one glance he looked at them with horror before schooling his features and made his way back to the castle as fast as he could without running.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked, having noticed Snape's behavior.

Harry shrugged and shot Hermione a questioning look, only for him to be met with an equally confused look.

-End-

**Author's Note:** Second one-shot, done! Ten more to go! Obviously this one was written from what happened in the book. Some of these one-shots were written before I've read the other books and are based on the movie (the first chapter being an example). I've just finished reading the fifth book, so any one-shot that happens up to fifth year will be based on the books, sixth and seventh will be based on the movies (which I have on DVD, all eight of them).

I was a little nervous about this one-shot, the commentary on the match seemed a little dry, and the way I told about Neville and Harry keeping their friendship a secret seemed a little rushed, but I hope you guys liked it! Leave a review, I'd love to hear what you guys thought about it. And I'm going to let you guys guess what Severus saw at the end! ***grins***

Until the next chapter, cya!

- LadyArachne


	3. Red

**Color Coding-** Lady Arachne

**Summary:** The colors used in plays have their meanings, each one a bit different from the others. These colors can best show the milestones and moments in Harry's and Neville's relationship. One-shots. (slash)

**Word Count:** 854

**Red:** aggressive, passionate, bloody, angry, strong

**Author's Note:** Last battle (based somewhat off movie, haven't read the last book, yet)

-Chapter 3: Red-

The battle that lasted all night was bloody, you'd be surprised at how many deadly spells there were in the world that were being used. Harry watched numbly as he walked by, most of his focus on an important task, as a student he didn't know the name of had her skin peeled off. It was a gruesome sight which fueled Harry to breakout into a run, deflecting spells sent to him and giving his own into the fray.

It had been two hours ago that Voldemort and his Death Eater came to attack the school. The wards that have surrounded the school grounds kept them out long enough for them to get the younger years down deep in the dungeons, whom's maze-like corridors would confuse any enemies from finding them.

The wards have fell just as Professor McGonagall had activated some kind of spell that made the statues in the Entrance Hall come to life to help protect Hogwarts and the students within.

The first attack was aggressive on both sides, each wanting to take out as many people as possible. Harry distinctly remembered Hogwarts students trying to leave the Death Eaters unconscious instead of killing them, but when many fell from the ones that have been revived, they were forced to kill as many as they could. They were going to protect Hogwarts and the younger ones inside even if it meant they had to bloody their hands.

Harry sent spell after spell, making sure they hit their target before moving onto the next. He was beyond angry, he was furious. The time Voldemort gave them to gather their dead left Harry feeling numb. He had found his lover, Neville, and together they had went into the Great Hall to see who was alright and who were dead.

Intense heat flooded his veins, making his heart skip a beat before speeding up as Harry stared into Fred's dead eyes, the other Weasleys hovering over him as they cried their hearts out. These feelings, the people who have died, those who have lost loved ones, yet continue to fight, fueled Harry's determination. Eyes narrowed, he ran into the forest, ready to fulfill his destiny and rid the world of Voldemort once and for all...even if it meant not coming back.

**XxXxX**

Silence filled the air. No one said a single word as Hagrid came, bound and having wands pointed at him. But that was not what they were looking at. Horror filled eyes watched as Hagrid sobbed over the still form in his arms. Neville pushed his way to the front, a sob working its way up his throat, but held back by the lump that have formed there.

His lover, his heart, the man he loved lay dead in Hagrid's arms, and he was here, Voldemort, gloating about and telling in detail on how he killed Harry. Everything that Voldemort said went through one ear and out the next, all Neville could do was look at Harry's limp body, wishing to all that is good for his Harry to open those incredible green eyes. But no such thing happened. Those eyes remained closed, never to open again.

White hot fury flooded his veins and he gripped the sword Harry gave him tightly. Hearing a hiss nearby was all it took for him to spring forward and with a roar he sliced Voldemort's snake head clean off its body, knowing exactly what it will do to Voldemort.

Voldemort sputtered, his laughing coming to a stop as he gripped his chest. Then, just as Neville was about to go over and drive the sword through Voldemort's heart, a sudden gasp came from the crowd of students and teachers, and he watched as his love sprang from Hagrid's arms and gave the killing blow.

The crowd was silent before loud cheering erupted from the students, Aurors and teachers rounded up the Death Eater left and right, some escaping, while others went down easily. He dimly noticed the Malfoys leaving the battle as he ran toward Harry. Dropping the bloody sword, Neville swept Harry up in a hug, holding him tightly and taking comfort at feeling the puff of breaths on his neck.

Neville pulled back and kissed Harry passionately. They kissed for a long time, Harry's arms coming around Neville's neck, and Neville's arms holding Harry around the waist. They pulled back slowly, both flushed and out of breath.

"You did it. He's gone." Neville whispered, resting his forehead against Harry's, looking deeply into the eyes he thought he'd never see again.

"No, we did. All of us. We were stronger than him, stronger than Voldemort, because we had something that he didn't have. Love. Family. Friends. Cutting those feelings out of him caused him his own downfall." Harry said, smiling weakly as exhaustion finally hit. Neville shifted and brought an arm around Harry's shoulder and turned them toward the heavily damaged castle.

"Come on, let's get you checked out." Neville said, walking through the crowd of cheering students and teachers. With Voldemort defeated and Harry alive and healthy, everything was right in the world.

-End-

**Author's Note:** Third one-shot, done! It had been a bit difficult thinking what to write for Red. I spent days thinking on how I should start it, and once I did everything else came to me. I haven't read the Deathly Hollows book and only seen the movie a few months ago (when this was written on copy paper). So, I hope you guys liked it!

And I would like to thank those who favorite and followed this story, it makes me warm and fuzzy when I see that people have liked my story! So, thank you all, I really appreciate it! And I would love to hear from you guys, it would be cool to hear what you guys think of the one-shots and how they should be improved, so please drop me a review after reading this! ***grins***

And a little note for _Pip, Pip, Hooray!_, for some reason my phone had cut off by itself and all the recently saved notes on it was deleted. That means one-shots five and six were lost, so they are being rewritten and it'd be a while until I'm able to post one-shot five, so I hope you all will be patient with me. ***smiles***

Until the next chapter, cya!

-Lady Arachne


	4. Yellow

**Color Coding-** Lady Arachne

**I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER**

**Summary:** The colors used in plays have their meanings, each one a bit different from the others. These colors can best show the milestones and moments in Harry's and Neville's relationship. One-shots. (slash)

**Word Count:** 1,226

**Yellow:** cheerful, happy, youthful, cowardly

**Author's Note:** Yule Ball

-Chapter 4: Yellow-

The air around him was youthful. The whole school was buzzing with excitement at the news of the Yule Ball. The Yule Ball was held on the night of Christmas, as per traditions for the Triwizard Tournament. The Triwizard Tournament was a contest between the three largest wizarding schools of Europe: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Durmstrang Institute, and Beauxbations Academy of Magic, with each school being represented by one champion.

The champions have already been chosen by an old magical instrument called the Goblet of Fire. The champion for Durmstrang was Viktor Krum, a famous Quidditch Seeker, and Fleur Delacour was chosen to be the champion for Beauxbations.

Fleur was a very pretty girl, Neville could tell as he walked past her and her friends in the hall, but she wasn't the person he was looking for. Neville looked up and down the halls and out the windows, hoping to get a glimpse of Harry. Neville had tried asking others where Harry was, but since it was mostly Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws he's seen they weren't very helpful. Saying hateful things about Harry, Neville ignored their comments and kept walking.

The reason they disliked Harry was that his name had came out of the Goblet of Fire, making him Hogwarts second champion. The Hufflepuffs believe that Harry had stolen Cedric Diggory's, who was Hogwarts first champion, thunder. Neville have no idea why the Ravenclaws were angry with Harry, he would have expected them to be smart enough to realize that Harry couldn't possibly have bewitched the Cup.

But that wasn't the point for finding Harry! Neville was looking for Harry, because he had an important question to ask him. Since the beginning of fourth year, when he first laid eyes on Harry, all of his thoughts revolved around his green eyed best friend. His green eyed _male_ best friend. It wasn't the fact that Harry was a boy that made Neville hesitates on asking him out; it was the thought of Harry not being into the same gender that held his tongue whenever he and Harry were alone together.

He spent the past three months hiding his feelings from Harry. He had thought they were simple infatuations, but when days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and the feelings only got stronger, Neville began to think that maybe he was feeling something more than a simple crush. He decided the best way to confess his feelings was by asking Harry to the Yule Ball, the event that everybody was cheerful about. It would be romantic for Harry to fall in love with him during the Yule Ball, especially since it was on the night of Christmas. Neville was hoping for this to happen.

Neville almost went past the archway that led into one of Hogwarts courtyards when he heard loud laughing. Looking over, he spotted a group of Ravenclaws pointing and laughing at a boy with messy black hair. Realizing it was Harry, Neville grinning and scuttled over to the hunched over boy. Tapping his shoulder, Neville was greeted by brilliant green eyes that never stopped the blush from working its way on his cheeks.

"Oh. Hey, Neville." Harry smiled, getting up and walking with Neville when the shy boy beckoned him to.

They walked in silence, Harry content to be away from the others, while Neville tried to work the words out of his mouth. He was being such a coward; he couldn't get eleven simple words out. But these words would change the relationship between him and Harry forever, if he could just get them out!

Taking a deep breath, Neville blurted out the words before nerves could shut him up, again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that." Harry said curiously. He stopped walking, making Neville come to a stop next to him.

Neville swallowed deeply and looked Harry in the eye, "I said: Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?" Neville repeated. He never looked away from Harry's face, thus seeing the shock on his face before it morphed into a look of relief and joy.

"Yeah! I'm mean, sure. I'd love to go. To be honest, I never thought you felt the same way, I'm really glad." Harry said, blushing. He was about to say more, but he winced at Hermione's shrill yelling of his name. Looking quickly at Hermione, Harry turned back to Neville. "I've gotta go, talk to you later?" Harry asked.

Neville stammered out a "Sure!" and watched Harry run off to his female best friend. Harry's words caught up to him and Neville blushed, a wide grin spreading across his face. Harry had said he never thought that he would feel the same way about him, which must mean that Harry had been too nervous or worried, or both, to confess, too. Neville turned around and headed for the Gryffindor common room, he had some dress robes to order.

**XxXxX**

_"Is that...?"_

_"Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom?!"_

_"Longbottom is Potter's date, is that even allowed?"_

_"But, they're both boys!"_

Neville walked into the transformed Great Hall with Harry's arm in his. Neville felt his cheeks flush at the whispering and staring. He felt nervous with all those eyes staring at him. Feeling a body brush up against him, Neville looked down into equally nervous eyes and the small smile being sent to him, and Neville took comfort in that smile.

They sat at the table meant for the champions at the front of Hall where the teachers table used to be.

"Wonder how long they're going to talk about this, you know, you bringing me as your date." Neville said lowly, looking around as the other students sat down at their tables, many were still whispering about them and throwing them looks every few seconds.

"My guess, until the next big thing happens." Harry said, trying to ignore the fact that Percy had just taken a seat next to him.

"Probably the next tournament." Neville suggested, appreciating that Percy was politely waiting for them to finish talking.

"Skeeter is going to blow this out of proportion." Harry muttered darkly.

"Actually, Ms. Skeeter is out today, said she had to write tomorrow's Daily Prophet." Percy butted in, looking at Harry. Realizing that he got Harry's attention, he started talking about why he was here and where Bagman was at and why the man wasn't here. Neville tried listening, but he was distracted by Dumbledore ordering everyone to order their food, and everything after that was a blur.

Neville remembered eating and talking to Harry and Percy; he remembers dancing with Harry to almost every song, and Neville remembered thanking everything that was good that he had stopped being so cowardly and asked Harry to the ball. He remembers Harry looking so happy after finally taking a break from dancing, listened as Harry told him that he was glad that Neville had asked him to the ball, and he remembered Harry's lips pressed against his own. Neville had never been so happy in his life, it felt like this night and that one kiss had topped every other joyful experience he have ever had, and Neville was still grinning goofily even as he settled in for the night. This had been the best moment of his life, and he will never forget it.

-End-

**Author's Note:** And...part four...done! I had to rewrite this twice because I didn't like how it had started, but I like how things went now. When I had first wrote this, I haven't read the Yule Ball scene, so I had to look things over and add some scenes that were from the book instead of the movie, and I hope you guys enjoyed! Leave a review and tell me what you thought, would love to hear from you guys. ***grins*** And I'm sure that y'all have noticed the story's cover photo, each color in it will be in this story, telling you how many one-shots there's going to be.

I'd like to thank those who had favorite and followed this story, makes me happy that people are liking this!

Oh, and a big alert, all my stories are over on AO3. So, if you guys prefer reading on AO3, you can find me there. My username is LadyArachne.

Until the next chapter, cya!

-Lady Arachne


	5. Pink

**Color Coding-** Lady Arachne

**I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER**

**Summary:** The colors used in plays have their meanings, each one a bit different from the others. These colors can best show the milestones and moments in Harry's and Neville's relationship. One-shots. (slash)

**Word Count:** 2,723

**Pink:** fanciful, romantic

**Author's Note:** week after Yule Ball

-Chapter 5: Pink-

"Do you want to go on a date with me?" Neville's face was flushed red, and Harry could feel that his face was heating up just as much, if not more.

A grin was working its way on his face at the thought of going on a date with Neville. It has been a week since the Yule Ball and everyone was still buzzing at seeing Neville being Harry's date and Hermione being Krum's, though everyone was more focused on him and Neville. Even though same-sex couples were more accepted in the Wizarding World, what with there being potions that allowed a man and women to get pregnant by their partners, and something called a blood adoption ritual being around, there was no reason to discriminate someone on wanting to be with the same-sex. But some muggleborns and halfbloods who grew up around muggles didn't see it that way.

Every time he or Neville walked by, they would whisper, some implying the wrongness while others outright said what they thought about their openness. It got to the point where Harry and Neville snuck around behind the student body's back to avoid confrontations. With them being in the same year and sharing the same room, it was easy for them to do so.

As it was right now, they were in the common room, which was empty except for him, Neville, Hermione, and Ron. Hermione and Ron were arguing quietly in their usual corner, occasionally glancing around the common room to make sure no one came in or down the stairs before the other said something that aggravated the other, which started them off again. Harry and Neville sat on one of the couches, so close that Harry was flushed against Neville's side, which neither of them minded.

Harry had the egg in his lap, having been trying to figure it out when Neville had popped the question. Harry looked at Neville, who was looking at him nervously, waiting for an answer.

"I'd love to, where did you have in mind?" Harry asked, setting the egg aside and turning to face Neville. Neville blushed before smirking a little,

"It's a secret." He said, about to say more when Hermione suddenly stood up furiously, her ink bottle threatening to topple over.

"It is late, Ronald! If you don't mind, I'll be going to bed." She hastily rolled up her sheets of parchment and stuffed them into her bag and stormed up the stairs leading to the girl's dorm.

"What was her deal?" Ron asked dubiously, looking over at them. Harry shrugged, preferring not to get involved with the spats they've been having lately. As much as he loved them, and appreciated them for helping him and Neville spend time with each other, the arguments they've been having lately were starting to grate on Harry's nerve. He prefer them getting along, rather than seeing them claw at each other's throats.

"I'm going to bed, too." Neville said, trying to hold back a yawn that threatened to come out. "G'night, Harry. Night, Ron."

"G'night, Neville." Ron and Harry said, the latter smiling when Neville pecked him on the cheek. Harry watched Neville go up the stairs, his heart beating fast as he watched him go. When Neville finally disappeared from view, Harry turned around with a happy sigh only to be met with a smirking Ron.

"What?" Harry said defensively. The smirk on Ron's face grew and he pretended to watch the stairs dreamily, sighing heavily and even fluttered his eyelashes. "I did not look like that!" Harry said hotly, realizing what Ron was doing.

"Ha! Oh yes, that was exactly how you looked!" Ron snickered, watching with amusement as the blush on Harry's cheeks grew redder. "You are so into him, I can't believe you can see anything but him!" he laughed, dodging the throw cushion Harry threw at him.

"Oh, sod off." He muttered, picking up at the egg and staring at him while ignoring the sniggering red head.

**XxXxX**

Harry, Neville, Ron, and Hermione walked to the Entrance where Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, stood checking over the Hogsmeade slips that were given to them for their parents to sign. Harry was glad that Sirius had signed his slip; even though the man was on the run, he was still Harry's legal guardian.

After getting their slips checked, they walked down the path leading toward Hogsmeade. With it being about two months since the Yule Ball and the second tournament about to start up this month, it was easy for people to forget that Harry took Neville as his date for the Yule Ball, which made the plan for today easy. The plan was for them to pick a empty spot in the Three Broomsticks Inn where they would sit and talk about the tournament, as the noise of the always crowded pub would make it difficult for others to eavesdrop, and when the time was right Ron and Hermione would go to the bar to 'get more drinks' where they were to take a while and allow Harry and Neville to spend time with each other.

At least, that _was_ the plan. When they entered the pub, they found a table in the back, and Hermione and Ron went up to the bar to get them their drinks. Harry and Neville sat blushing next to each other, neither of them looking at the other as they looked around the pub. This was the first time they've ever been out on a proper date, the sneaking around had made it impossible for them to go out into public places for romantic reasons. Harry felt that his blush would permanently stay on his face as he finally looked at Neville.

No matter how many times Harry worked his mouth, he couldn't find anything to say, and Neville was having the same problem. Everything Neville had planned to say had suddenly flown out of his head the moment he and Harry were alone at the table. Thinking that he had to do something, he reached out and grabbed Harry's hand from under the table.

Harry jumped slightly and looked down before smiling at a furiously blushing Neville. Harry squeezed the hand in his, wincing at how sweaty his palm was.

"So, you two, anything interesting happened while we were gone." Ron teased, having seen everything up at the bar and had to control himself from laughing at their blushing faces.

"Everything's good." Neville was the one to speak up, thanking Hermione when she passed out the butterbeers.

"Yeah, definitely looked good from where we were standing." Hermione grinned, loving how cute Harry looked glaring at her with a huge blush covering his face.

"Oh hush." Harry grumbled, drinking his butterbeer to avoid talking to them. Harry felt Neville squeeze his hand and he grinned at him, getting a small grin back.

Soon the teasing stopped and Hermione brought up the egg and they went over what the clue could possibly be. Harry had opted not to bring the egg, not wanting it to accidentally open and ruin the date with its screeching, so they were left to guess what the screeching could be. It was when Harry mentioned the hint Cedric had given him when someone cleared their throat from behind Hermione.

Harry looked over and he felt a searing hatred well up inside him when he noticed Rita Skeeter standing there looking imposingly, her acid green quill floating over a notepad next to her.

"Well, how exciting. Four friends out on Valentine's Day, instead out on dates. Why is that, Harry Potter?" She simpered, coming to stand on the side of the table where Harry and Hermione sat.

"We-" Harry tried to say when Skeeter raised a perfectly manicured hand.

"Say no more, it's obvious on what's actually happening here. So, tell us Harry, when have you and this," She shot a disdained look at Hermione before smiling sickeningly sweet at Harry. "Lovely lady have been dating." she asked, smirking down at Harry.

"We're not-" Harry and Hermione tried to say, but Skeeter shot a nasty sneer toward Hermione. "Quiet, girl!" she hissed at her, before turning back to Harry. "Now, what did you say?" she asked.

"I said, "We're not-"-" Harry was cut off again when Skeeter laughed and leaned away from the table.

"Oh, don't act all shy, it's obvious that you two are on a date, and that these two," she pointed at Ron and Neville, who were both looking rather annoyed. "Are covering for you both. Though, I don't know why you would go for someone who is obviously after your fame and money." she shrugged, smirking when she noticed the glares being sent her way.

"But, there have been this _interesting_ rumor." Skeeter added, crossing her arms and smirking at Neville and Harry. "Something about young Harry here taking mister Longbottom to the Yule Ball as his date? I regret ever missing that event, but if you'd like to talk-"

"We would not talk; in fact, we prefer if you'd leave and go bother someone else!" Neville spat out, surprising his friends and himself at his outburst. Skeeter shot him a nasty look before turning on her heels and walking away.

"Date's over, we have to go, now!" Hermione said, finishing off her butterbeer quickly and waiting for the others. They quickly finished off their drinks before standing and rushing out of the pub, running toward the school and to the common room where they know they'll be safe.

**XxXxX**

"She knows! That woman knows that those rumors are true and she's going to put that in the Daily Prophet!" Harry said, pacing up and down in front of Hermione, Ron, and Neville as they sat next to the settee closest to the fireplace. They watched him anxiously, trying to come up with ways for them to get Skeeter to not publish the not-so-rumors running around school about the Yule Ball.

Hermione sat there thinking about her theory of Skeeter. She had been planning on waiting until it neared the end of the school term to get started, but figured now was a good time to put her plans in action.

"I think I might know something." Hermione hurriedly stood up, interrupting what Neville was about to say and walked over to where she placed her school bag. Taking out a bit of parchment, her quill and ink bottle, and a book, she ran out the common room before they could say something. She needed to get a firm confirmation before she was ready to tell the others.

The boys blinked after her before looking at each other. "What was that on about?" Ron asked incredulously.

"It's Hermione; she probably got something planned in that mind of hers." Harry said, finally stopping his frantic pacing and choosing instead to sit on Neville's lap. Harry cuddled in close to Neville's chest and smiled when he felt Neville's arms wrapped around his waist.

"Well, so much for you two's date." Ron smiled wryly at them, watching his two best friends cuddle together on the settee.

"I've known that my plans for our first official date would be fanciful, what with Skeeter and the whole school keeping an eye on Harry I'm surprised we got to hold hands." Neville said, pulling Harry closer to him.

"Yeah, hold hands, no talking or kissing." Ron teased, causing them to blush and for Neville to hit Ron with a throw cushion. They smiled at Ron's laughter and joined in, their worry about Skeeter diminishing to the backs of their minds as they trusted Hermione to be onto something.

**XxXxX**

Harry sat dazedly on the train back to London, watching the scenery as it whipped by. The Tournament was over and he had won, though he wished that he never had. The Triwizard Cup they had to get in the middle of the maze had turned out to be a Portkey to a graveyard where Voldemort was going to rise from his weaken state. Harry clenched his fist, remembering how he had wanted Cedric to share the glory with him and how he had gotten Cedric killed because of that. Harry remembered clearly how Voldemort had told Pettigrew to kill the spare; he remembers vividly the sickly green spell flying toward Cedric, killing him instantly.

If only he hadn't told Cedric that they'd both touch the cup, claiming them both the winners, Cedric would have stilled been alive.

"Harry." Neville whispered sadly, turning Harry away from the window to hug him close to his chest. Harry sighed and leaned into the hold. Out of all the people that were close to him, he was glad that Neville believed him about Voldemort being back the most. It would have completely crushed him if Neville hadn't.

"I know things are only going to get worst, but everything will be okay." Neville whispered into his hair, rubbing a hand up and down Harry's back comfortingly. "I promise to write to you everyday, just don't block me from comforting you."

Harry felt bad then, at how he had treated everybody when all they wanted to do was comfort him. He looked over at Ron and Hermione who smiled understandably at him, and he never felt so grateful at having them as friends, for having Neville here with him.

"I can already see the headlines Skeeter is going to make about this. She's going to take things way out of proportion." Ron muttered darkly, glaring at the Daily Prophet in Hermione's hands.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about her." Hermione said smugly, a grin threatening to appear on her face. Harry looked up.

"You're kidding? I can expect many awful 'reports' coming from her during the summer, she's going to be ringing in the success of getting _exclusive_ news about what happened." Harry scoffed, looking at Hermione as if she was crazy.

"Oh, she won't be writing anything at all if she wants me to keep the end of my bargain." Hermione grinned; not at all bothered by the look Harry and Ron had sent her.

"What'd you do?" Neville asked, curious as to whether this was why Hermione had been writing back and forth to someone since February.

"Oh, Harry gave me an idea on how she had been listening to our private conversations without us noticing her." Hermione said simply, obviously getting them worked up on what she knew.

"How'd I do that?" Harry blinked.

"_Bugging_..." Hermione said.

"But I-"

"Not electric bugging!" Hermione said impatiently. "I researched on what kind of living creatures people can turn into that are small and can be undetectable if in the same room and found out that Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus." she said, grinning smugly at their shocked faces. She reached into her bag and pulled out a jar that had small trigs and leaves, and sitting on top of them was a big, fat beetle.

"Blimey, and you figured all that out just from Harry saying _bugging_?!" Ron asked impressively, causing Hermione to puff up in pride.

"It was easy. Once the thought was in my head I had to look up a few things." Hermione said, obviously proud of her work.

"Being an unregistered Animagus is illegal; so for you to keep her secret, you made her promise not to write another article about Harry?" Neville asked, staring at the beetle.

"I told her not to write _any_ article at all. I know that she would have tried to sneak in something about Harry if I were to allow her free rein on any topics, so I made sure there was no chance of you two dating ever getting out." Hermione said, leaning back against the seat.

"Hermione, you're amazing!" Ron gushed, grabbing the jar and staring intently at the beetle inside. While Hermione smiled under the praises, Harry stared at the beetle and smiled. He was extremely grateful to have them all as friends, he couldn't even think of what would've happened if he hadn't met Ron on that fateful day on the train; if he hadn't saved Hermione from that troll; if he hadn't have apologized for what they did to Neville in his second year. He thanked every thing good for him having met such wonderful people.

-End Chapter-

**Author's Note:** ***breathes heavily*** You guys wouldn't believe how much trouble this chapter was! I had half of it prewritten on copy paper (when I had wrote it in school) and it was so bad I had to rewrite it! Then I had to rewrite the rewrite and then rewrite the rewrite of the rewrite. This is the third attempt for this chapter and I like how things went. There were times in the chapter where I got the events for fourth and fifth year mixed up, and I made sure I paid attention to those during the proofreading; so if I missed any, please tell me so that I can fix it.

Anyway, hoped you guys liked the one-shot. This is the point where the other one-shots haven't been written out and will take a while for me to update, so I hope you all get used to the long wait between updates!

And I have all my stories over on AO3, so if any of you prefer to read over there you can find me under: _LadyArachne_

Until the next one-shot, cya!

-Lady Arachne


	6. Green

**Color Coding-** Lady Arachne

**I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER**

**Summary:** The colors used in plays have their meanings, each one a bit different from the others. These colors can best show the milestones and moments in Harry's and Neville's relationship. One-shots. (slash)

**Word Count:** 5,182

**Green:** youthful, external, reborn, jealous

**Author's Note:** fifth year

-Chapter 6: Green-

"Mr. Potter! I tell you once more, there is nothing out there that will harm any of you." The large pale toad at the front of their class simpered, looking at Harry as if he was just a simple child looking for attention. "I mean, who would possibly want to hurt innocent children?" she continued, making that annoying girlish giggle of hers.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe Voldemort?" Harry sneered. The reaction was spontaneous; the others in the classroom gasped, Ron choked on his own spit, and Umbridge gave a tick at the name. Harry shot Ron a look, clearly telling him that he ought to get used to hearing the name Voldemort.

"Now, that is enough!" Umbridge shouted, standing up from her desk. "You must stop telling these lies; our world is at peace and I, and the Ministry, will not you ruin everything the Minister has worked hard for!"

Harry glared at her, ignoring the insistent Hermione tugging on his robe sleeve and urging him in sharp whispers to sit back down. "I am not lying. Voldemort is back, he's the one who killed Cedric. And if he killed Cedric, a Hogwarts student, then he'll have no problem-!"

"ENOUGH!" Umbridge shouted, puffing up as her pudgy face turned pink in anger. "It seems that you need to learn, Mr. Potter, not to tell lies in my classroom; or anywhere at all. You have one week of detention starting today, every evening starting at eight. Do not be late!" she took a slip out of one of her drawers and wrote something down on it and looked back up at Harry once finished. "Now, I want you to take this slip and give it to your Head of House."

Harry stalked up to take the slip and stormed out of the classroom, making sure to slam the door really hard. He couldn't believe what the Ministry was trying to do! Instead of making sure the students were training for when Voldemort attacked, they were making sure they were as defenseless as possible. Well, he wasn't going to stand for this. He was going to make the Ministry see the truth, even if it killed him.

**XxXxX**

"Harry!" Hermione shouted, coming into the Common Room and walking toward Harry upon seeing him. Harry sat at their usual table in the corner, working on his homework as he tried to figure out ways for others to see the truth.

"Hermione." Harry greeted, not bothering to look up. He heard three chairs being pulled back and smiled when a pale hand brushed a strand of hair away from his eyes.

"You okay, mate?" Ron asked, looking nervously at Harry. He remembered clearly the outburst Harry had at Grimmauld Place, Sirius Black's family home which serves as the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, and was not looking forward to a repeat of that.

"I'm fine, perfectly fine." Harry said, his numb tone of voice caused Hermione and Ron to brace themselves, but it was Neville who laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and squeezed it. Harry sighed heavily, dropping his quill and bringing a hand up to massage his temples. Ron and Hermione stared in amazement at how Neville stopped Harry from exploding with just a single touch, it was then that they could truly see that Neville was a good thing for Harry, was exactly who Harry needed the most at his side.

"Well, it was stupid of what you two did in that class. You both should have been careful-" Hermione started, shaking her thoughts of Harry's and Neville's relationship and started the lecture she had been planning on giving them, but Harry looked at her sharply.

"What do you mean "you two"? I was the only one to stand up to that toad in a wig." Harry said, watching as Hermione and Ron shared a look. Harry's eyes widen. "Who else stood up?" he asked, astonished that someone else probably believed him after all the lies the Daily Prophet has been saying about him and Dumbledore.

"I did." Neville said, grinning when Harry looked at him in shock. "I couldn't let my boyfriend be the only one to stand up to the truth." Neville shrugged, leaning over to kiss Harry on the cheek.

"But did she give you detention, too?" Harry sat upright and stared at Neville as if he had grown two heads.

"Yeah, gave me one for 'blindly following an attention-seeking liar'. Stop," Neville held up a hand when it looked like Harry was about to protest. "I know what you're thinking, and you could just get rid of that thought right now. This isn't just your battle; it's everyone who's involved battle. I wasn't just going to sit there and watch her attack you like that. So you better get used to me fighting battles with you." Neville flicked Harry's nose playfully, enjoying the shock look in those beautiful green eyes of his.

Harry looked away from them, his face unseen to the others. He smiled, a few tears coming to his eyes that he refused to let fall. He felt himself falling deeper in love with Neville, and was grateful to have him by his side.

**XxXxX**

Harry and Neville walked down to Umbridge's office together, both ready to serve their detentions with her. Neville held Harry's hand, rubbing his thumb across the back of it absent-mindedly. When they had left the Common Room, they had talked about what Umbridge had planned for their detention. Harry thought that it was going to be something that would surely humiliate them, while Neville was hoping it was something simple that they could get done really quickly.

As they got closer to the office, the topic of conversation turned to what the office looked like. Harry mentioned that every year the DADA teacher would have the office designed in their character; Harry remembered Lockhart having pictures of various sizes of himself, Remus had filled his with an assortment of creatures, and that Mad-Eye Moody had many dark detectors in his office. They soon reached the door of the topic of their conversation and after sharing a look Neville knocked on the door.

They heard a high-pitched "Enter." before the door opened ajar. Harry pushed the door fully opened and walked into the room.

Neville's intake of breathe sounded from behind him, indicating that Harry wasn't imagining what he was seeing. The whole office was different from how Moody had had it. The paint job was done in pink, instead of the gloomy dark colors Moody had. Frills and lace lined the edges of the desk and other furniture, and pink saucers hung on the walls, each with a moving picture of cats meowing and playing. Umbridge sat at her desk, scribbling away on a pink sheet of parchment as she hummed to herself.

"Take a seat; you'll be writing lines for tonight." Umbridge said after a while, finally putting her own dark pink quill down and smiling sickeningly sweet at them. Harry controlled his anger and took a seat at one of the two desks in the room; Neville took the other next to him. Harry looked curiously at the long, black quill lying on the desk and heard Neville's sharp intake of breathe again. Looking over, Harry saw Neville looking down at the quill with terror in his eyes and was just about to ask what was wrong when Umbridge made that "hem hem" noise.

"Mr. Potter, your lines are on the board on the left. Mr. Longbottom, yours is on the right. You will write until I have decided if the message _sunk in_ or not." She smiled sickeningly at them. "You may begin."

Harry grabbed his bag and was about to pull out his ink bottle when Umbridge interrupted him,

"What are you doing Mr. Potter?" She breathed, looking as if Harry was doing something obviously wrong to an easy problem. Harry scowled at her, "I'm getting my ink bottle, _professor_." he said, reining in his anger by the skin of his teeth.

"Oh, you won't need any ink; the quill...provides one for itself." She simpered, before turning her gaze to Neville's terrified ones. "Mr. Longbottom, I've said to began." she said sternly, smiling when Neville gulped and shakily picked up the quill.

Now weary because of Neville's reaction, Harry picked up the quill, noticing how thin and sharp it was, and looked up at the board. _'I Must Not Tell Lies'_, he read silently what was on the board, scowling at the words and looking over to what Neville had to write: _'I Must Not Follow Blindly'_, he glared at Umbridge, who sat staring back at him, idly sipping her small cup of tea daintily.

Harry looked at the quill and hesitantly wrote the line down. A small scorching pain flared from the back of his right hand, and he gasped in pain as the words appeared on the parchment on what appeared to be red ink. Harry looked at his right hand just to time to see the words on the back of it before it healed over, the only thing showing that it had been there and wasn't his imagination was the red, irritated skin where the words had once been.

Harry looked over at Neville and watched in horror as Neville slowly wrote line after line, gritting his teeth as he was obviously fighting through the pain. Harry stared at Umbridge who gently placed her cup down and folded her hands on her desk. "Is there a problem, Mr. Potter?" she smiled, her eyes daring him to speak, and Harry wasn't about to give her that satisfaction. He picked up the quill again and started writing down the lines, wincing whenever the words healed themselves over, only for them to be cut open again. The process continued until soon the healed words were beginning to show faintly through the healed skin.

Harry didn't know how many hours have passed when Umbridge had them stop; all he knew was that he wanted to get himself and Neville as far away from this mad woman as possible. Harry watched with worried eyes as Neville brought his hand to his chest, but when Umbridge drew nearer he held his chin up and stared defiantly in her eyes.

"Give me you hand, Mr. Longbottom." She said mockingly sweet, holding her wand up. Neville glared and Harry watched as he brought his hand away from his chest and allowed Umbridge to heal the back of his hand. She soon did the same to Harry and bid them farewell, that she will be expecting them tomorrow.

Harry and Neville walked back to the Common Room, rubbing their hands as they walked. Harry stared at Neville who was looking at the ground and asked the question he had wanted to ask. "What was that? Those quills?"

Neville glanced at Harry before looking back down at the ground, "Blood Quills. My uncle used to threaten to use them on me if I didn't show any signs of magic." he said. Harry winced, hating the sound of Neville's family every time he mentions them.

"But what did those quills do? What was their purpose besides making us write in our own blood?" Harry questioned, shaking his head.

"They're dark magical objects of torture. They use the blood of the person using it instead of ink and whatever the person writes will be carved onto the back of their hand" Neville rubbed said hand, looking at the angry red patch of skin there. "The wounds on the back of the hand will heal, looking slightly redder than before, and will open again when the person writes again." Neville finished his overview of the dark object they were forced to use, glancing at Harry.

Harry gulped and looked down at his irritated hand, "What will happen if we continuously use the quills?" he whispered.

Neville was silent for a moment before he reached down and gently grabbed Harry's hand. "It will eventually scar the back of the hand." Was all he said before Harry growled.

"I've got to get you out of there." Harry said, thinking a mile of minute of all the excuses or plots Neville could use to get him to be permitted from the detentions.

"Not going to happen. I'm standing beside you through anything whether you like it or not. I'm not going to let her hurt you all alone, Harry!" Neville said passionately.

"And I'm not going to just sit there and watch that woman hurt you!" Harry said back, squeezing the hand in his. He couldn't sit there and listen to his love's hisses of pain, the sound proved to be one of the worst things he wished to never hear again.

"I'm not going to let you do this alone, Harry. You're just gonna have to get used to that fact." Neville brought the hand in his and kissed the irritated skin. Neville heard a soft sigh and smiled when Harry leaned against him as they walked. Harry was silent for a moment, before he sighed again.

"Fine. But I swear if she does anything worse then this, I'm getting you out of there." Was all Harry said before he leaned up to kiss Neville. They stood there for a moment before breaking apart and continued walking to the common room.

**XxXxX**

"She's a vile woman who is making sure that we can't practice any defensive spells!" Hermione spat quietly in the library, writing down her Potions essay as she spoke. "We've got to do something about this; it can't continue like this! By the time the O.W.L.S. come we won't be able to do any spells! She says that when the exams come we could be able to do them once without any practice, on the day of the exams!" She suddenly screamed out, ducking down when Madam Pince walked over to shush them.

"I am _not_ going to fail because she and the Ministry are suspicious of Dumbledore making an army of students to overthrow him; I mean how ridiculous is that?!" She continued in a quieter voice. She looked at Ron who nodded his agreement to her words.

"We should definitely do something about her." Neville nodded, rubbing Harry's back as the black haired boy cursed and scratched out a line he had wrote for his own Potions essay. The nightly detentions with Umbridge, the strange dreams, Snape's Occlumency lessons, and being made the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team was making it hard for Harry to do his homework, which meant him being in a bad mood out of exhaustion pretty much all day. Ron and Hermione were extremely glad for the effect Neville had on Harry, otherwise they would have gotten many violent outbursts from Harry.

"What do you have in mind?" Harry sighed, pushing himself away from the incomplete essay, deciding that he could use a break from working. Hermione stared at her essay before suddenly grinning,

"We could form a group; make it look like a study group when in actuality we are teaching others how to cast defensive and offensive spells!" She whispered, bringing in her head close to the others so that nobody in the library could overhear her. "Harry can be the teacher, as he has experience in dealing with Dark Wizards and knows how to use spells."

"Absolutely not! All those times I've dealt with Dark Wizards were due to luck, and nothing more. I couldn't be able to teach anyone anything!" Harry said shortly, trying to knock the idea of him being a teacher from Hermione's mind.

"Hermione's right, mate. You have experience in dealing with Dark Wizards. And," Ron raised his voice slightly when it looked like Harry was about to reprimand him, too. "Even if the only reason you've won was because of luck, you still know how to use the spells; or is that only because of luck, too?" he raised an eyebrow at Harry who flushed angrily at the idea of others thinking luck was what got him to use his spells properly.

"I don't see the point in me teaching. Hermione, you're smarter than me, it would make more sense for you to teach others!" He pointed out. It was true; Hermione knew everything as if she has every page of every book in the library imprinted in her mind.

"Yeah, but they're just theories, and we're already going through them in Umbridge's class. We need someone who knows how to use the spells and knows how to teach it to others!" Hermione said, trying to get Harry to see why he was the best choice.

"I don't know how to teach others! That's the problem, Hermione!" Harry said, getting irritated that they couldn't see why it was a bad idea for him to teach. Neville looked from Hermione's determined face to Harry's irritated face and sighed.

"I agree with Hermione and Ron, Harry. If anyone can do this than it's you." Neville said gently, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Harry stared at Neville then to Hermione and Ron, all three of them were looking at him with pleading eyes. Harry sighed and slumped in his seat.

"Fine!" He snapped, crossing his arms across his chest. Hermione grinned and high fived Ron while Neville ruffled Harry's hair. "But you have to do my homework!" He pushed his essay to Hermione who sent him a stern glare before sighing and taking the half written essay. Harry grinned, trying to push Neville's hand from his hair. He figured he'll give in, they'll see that no one would want to learn from an 'attention-seeking brat'.

**XxXxX**

It turns out that Harry had many people believing him about Voldemort being back and that they were willing to go behind Umbridge's back to learn the spells Harry had to offer. With the club still being youthful, it had been tough for them to find a place to train in, but with the help of Dobby they have found the Room of Requirements, a room that if you walk past it three times while thinking of something you needed the room will provide it; an example being when Dumbledore was up on the seventh floor and desperately needed to use the loo, the room had provided him with a room filled with toilets ready to be used.

Many others had come to join what is known as Dumbledore's Army, which had started in October. Harry had been surprised to see a large amount of students from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff show up at the first meeting in the Hog's Head Inn. He was pleased to see that others believed him instead of listening to the Daily Prophet, as that meant the DA meetings would move so much easier without so many people doubting him; though Zacharias Smith is proving to be difficult with him questioning the spells Harry teaches them.

Harry had to say that he enjoyed teaching others self-defense spells; he loved the feeling of seeing others flourish as he taught them what he knew. Whenever someone finally got a spell right, he'd always smile and congratulate them. Seeing the accomplished look on their faces made Harry feel good about giving in to his best friends' idea; the DA made his wish to do something to protect others be reborn from the sullen ashes the summer had left it in.

It was now February and Harry and Neville decided that they should have a date on Valentine's Day in the Room of Requirements, as the only ones to know of it were them and the House Elves. With plans set to hold off any DA meetings on Valentine's week, Harry and Neville planned the date together. They didn't want another embarrassing moment to happen like what happened last year.

It was as Harry was walking to the library to meet up with Hermione, Ron, and Neville that he felt something tug on his robe sleeve. He looked behind him and blinked at the smiling face of Cho Chang, one of the members of the DA.

"Hullo, Harry." She said softly, releasing her hold on Harry's sleeve and taking a step closer. Harry took a step back and grinned at her.

"Hey, Cho. What's up?" Harry asked, thinking that she had a question for one of the spells she was trying to do. She had been having trouble with the spells she did, either she'd mispronounce the spell or she didn't put enough power into it, but she was really a smart girl who only needed to be shown how to do it three more times before she got it down perfectly.

"I was wonder..." She trailed off, blushing. Harry raised an eyebrow and looked out the window close to them; seeing that the sun was still pretty high up, he figured he had some time to talk to Cho before he had to go to the library.

"I was wondering if you'll like to go to Hogsmeade...with me?" Cho asked, smiling up at Harry. Harry blinked before his eyes widen in shock. Hogsmeade week was on a Valentine's Day, as it is every year, and with Cho blushing so heavily and actually talking to him without her gaggle of friends around her...

"Sorry, I've got something to do on Hogsmeade. It's gonna take all day for me to do!" Harry said hurriedly, wishing that he had kept on walking. Dealing with these kinds of things wasn't his forte, he never had a girl come up to him like this; well, besides Ginny, but she seems to have grown out of it. Harry braced himself for Cho's reaction.

"Oh..." Cho said slowly, staring at Harry with narrowed eyes before she suddenly smiled. "Well, maybe we could get together some other day, maybe after one of the-"

Harry cut her off with a look. It had been agreed on to not talk about the DA in public places, or anywhere where there were other people around. They had to keep the meetings a secret, and talking about said meetings where others could here was something they wished to avoid.

"Sorry!" Cho held a hand over her mouth as she apologized, realizing what she had almost done. "Um...maybe we could meet up some other day, to talk about...things." Cho continued, bringing her hand down from her mouth and moving it to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear.

Harry tilted his head, "What things?" he asked. His eyes widen as tears started to form in Cho's eyes.

"A-About...Cedric..." She whispered, wiping the tears from her eyes. She stared pleadingly up at Harry, but all he could do was wince at the mention of Cedric. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about Cedric, the memory had left its mark inside him that felt like new every time the Hufflepuff was mentioned.

"I'd rather not talk about Cedric, was that all you wanted to talk about?" Harry asked, now wishing more than ever that he had continued walking.

Cho stared at him with wide eyes before tearing up. "You d-don't want to talk about Ce-Cedric?" she asked before she flushed angrily. "Why not?! I need to talk about him, and I know you need to, too! So why not talk about him together?!" she demanded, wiping her eyes furiously before placing her hands on her hips.

Harry took a step back and raised his hands. "I've already talked about him with my best friends-"

"Oh and I'm guessing by that you mean that Hermione Granger girl, right?" Cho scoffed, rolling her eyes. The way she said Hermione's name made Harry bristled. He didn't like it when people bad-mouthed his friends, and he wasn't about to let someone in the DA do the same.

"And what if I talked about Cedric with Hermione?! She's my friend, along with Ron and Neville." Harry growled, glaring back at Cho.

"But I was Cedric's girlfriend; I _need_ to know how he died!" Cho said angrily. "And I thought you liked me!"

Harry floundered at the accusation, his eyes widen as he wondered how she could have thought that.

"You've been looking at me all year! Every time we're at the...you know what...you're always smiling at me and talking to me; you've even ignored others to talk to me! I can't believe I've let you lead me on like that, you...you...!" She huffed, crying opening now.

Harry stared at her in shock. Of course he's been looking at her all year; he made sure to look over all the members of the DA when he sees them, to make sure that Umbridge haven't gotten her hands on them. And he smiled at everyone during the meeting, congratulating them on successfully working a spell and giving them encouragement when they fail. Like he had said before, Cho had been one of the few to have problems with the spells that he taught, so he had to talk her through the wand movements and pronunciation until she got it right. He didn't think anyone would mistake that for flirting!

And that's what Harry told her, making sure that he didn't mention the DA. It was as Harry was finished explaining that he felt a stinging pain on his cheek and realized that Cho had slapped him.

"H-How dare you...!" Cho sobbed and turned as she ran away crying. Harry stared after her, stunned at what just happened. He slowly turned around and continued walking toward the library, wondering what on earth was wrong with her.

**XxXxX**

Harry had of course told the others what had taken place, hoping that someone could explain how things went horribly in under a few minutes. Hermione was astounded that Cho could have mistaken Harry's kindness as flirting and how jealous the pretty girl was of her friendship with him; Ron found it hilarious, joking that he was lucky she didn't throw a curse at him; Neville had flushed with anger and constantly looked at the red mark on Harry's cheek as they had studied in the library.

It was now Valentine's Day and Harry and Neville were going to spend it in the Room of Requirements. They had everything planned out and were heading up to the seventh floor when Hermione came running toward them.

"Harry!" She shouted, coming to a stop in front of them. "Remember when I said I needed to meet up with you later today?" At Harry's nod she continued. "The person we're meeting came early and is demanding that we meet with them or they'll leave. Harry, I'm really sorry! I tried to get them to hold off the meeting for a while, but they won't listen." She said, wringing her hands in front of her as she looked at Harry nervously.

Harry blinked, taking in what she had said before groaning. "Hermione!" he growled, pinching the bridge of his nose before looking apologetically at Neville. "Neville..." he started but was cut off by a kiss from said boy. Hermione quickly looked around and sighed in relief upon noticing that no one was in the halls.

"It's okay. This must be really important or Hermione wouldn't have bothered looking for you." Neville smiled, rubbing Harry's cheek with his thumb before stepping back. "You two go on, I'll go find Ron and see if he hasn't left already." Neville waved before turning and running back to the common room.

Harry sighed then turned to Hermione who smiled apologetically. "Let's go." Was all he said, following as Hermione quickly ran toward the Entrance Hall. So much for this date going well.

**XxXxX**

What happened after left Harry in shock. First off, meeting with Skeeter to tell his side of what happened on the night Voldemort came back was a shocker. He didn't at first believe that the woman would write the truth and not add her own words to contradict his, but he was proven wrong when Hermione proved herself to be good at threatening. The aftermath of everybody reading Skeeter's report made Harry's spirit swell up now that more people were starting to believe him. But that was cut off abruptly when Umbridge made up more rules for Hogwarts, one more outrages than the other. The toad-like woman was trying to make sure that absolutely no one believed Harry, but all her work just made the others in the school believe that she and the Ministry were trying to hide something.

It was during their last lesson before Easter that something horrible happened.

They had all been in the Room of Requirement working on their Patronuses. Harry looked around and watched as some managed to successfully produce a full body Patronus while others merely managed to get a shapeless, silvery wisp from the tips of their wands. Harry smiled encouragingly at Neville when he failed again; talking to him gently about the tips he had gotten from Remus and from experience. Harry heard Cho scoff from the other side of the room and turned to watch her swan-shaped Patronus swim in the air around her.

It was as Harry was about to turn to Lavender to help her when everything came crashing down on Harry. Dobby had appeared with a warning that Umbridge had somehow found out about the DA and was on her way here. It was after a horrified pause that everybody in the room ran toward the doors in a flurry of movement. Harry heard them ran down the halls; he hoped that they didn't run straight toward their common rooms, as that would be too suspicious.

After ordering Dobby to go back to the kitchens and not to harm himself, Harry followed Hermione, Ron, and Neville out the room. He had just turned to follow them when something grabbed a hold of his ankles, causing him to fall.

"GO! RUN!" Harry shouted, waving away the helping hands of his best friends and boyfriend. He urged them to keep running, pleaded with them to go, and it was as Draco Malfoy's voice drew nearer that Ron and Hermione listened to him and ran away; though Neville refused to leave Harry behind.

And that's how they ended up in Dumbledore's office with Umbridge, the Minister, and two Aurors. Harry glared hatefully at Cho's friend, Marietta Edgecombe, who betrayed the DA by ratting them out. Harry took satisfaction in watching the girl desperately hide her face, knowing that Hermione's curse to those who told anyone external the DA had taken effect.

With the strange dreams Harry's been having, Dumbledore leaving Hogwarts, and Umbridge getting pranked by the students of Hogwarts, Harry realized that none of his years at Hogwarts were ever going to be normal; and through all this, Neville never left his side.

As they were getting on their thestrals, ready to go save Sirius from Voldemort, Harry felt that with Neville and his friends by his side they could handle anything, as long as they were together.

-End-

**Author's Note:** Wow, that was a long wait for this chapter! I told you guys that it'd be a long wait, but I didn't think it'd take this long to write one one-shot. And speaking of one-shot, I feel like these are getting a bit too detailed to be one-shots; the length of this actually surprised me! I don't think it matters, but it certainly is different from what I've wrote while still in school.

Anyway, hoped you all enjoyed the one-shot, it was a pain to write, but I loved how it came out. I'd like to thank those who favorite and followed this story, and I'd like to thank those who have reviewed. Love that people have been reading this story and liking it. Leave a review and tell me what you thought!

And the last note, all of my stories are over on AO3, so if any of you prefer to read over there you can find me under: _LadyArachne_

Until the next one-shot, cya!

-Lady Arachne


	7. Soft Green

**Color Coding-** Lady Arachne

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_, or anything related.

**Summary:** The colors used in plays have their meanings, each one a bit different from the others. These colors can best show the milestones and moments in Harry's and Neville's relationship. One-Shots. (slash)

**Word Count:** 2,146

**Soft Green:** restful, soothing, tranquil

**Author's Note:** post-war

-Chapter 7: Soft Green-

Life after the war was somewhat tranquil, in Harry's opinion. To everyone else, life was peaceful without the overpowering force of Voldemort holding them down. There were some that were still affected by the Dark Lord's name being heard, but the wizarding world was slowly healing. Harry just wished that people would mind their own business.

Ever since he had woken up inside what was left of the Great Hall with Neville lying next to him, there was always a reporter or a fan that would question what had happened that led to Hagrid carrying his supposed dead body back to Hogwarts grounds. Harry had thought about not telling them what happened, but after he had heard from a satisfied Hermione of what was going to happen to the Malfoys, Harry knew that he had to tell the Wizengamot what Narcissa Malfoy had done. Without her he would never had gotten the chance to kill Voldemort once and for all. Harry had saw at that moment how much the woman had loved her son if she was willing to lie right to Voldemort's face after hearing that he was safe and alive.

After their trials, the Malfoys were let off with parole and Harry made sure that the family kept all the titles that Lucius Malfoy and the previous Heads of House to the Malfoy Family were not taken away from them. While Harry had never seen Lucius show any kind of love toward his son during their Hogwarts years, Harry knew that he could not mistaken that show of emotions he had saw when the man witnessed his son not being sentenced to Azkaban. As much as Harry had hated Draco, he couldn't let the boy be sent to Azkaban. The bathroom scene was still fresh and vivid in Harry's mind, seeing the stressed hunched over form crying over the sink had told Harry that the Malfoy heir had gotten way over his head with the Death Eater business.

While Ron and Hermione weren't happy that the Malfoys weren't given harsher punishment, they understood Harry's determination to help the family of the woman who had helped Harry.

With the damage done to Hogwarts, it was estimated that it would take about two years to completely reconstruct Hogwarts and its wards to its former glory; with possibly more wards being added to further insure the safety of the students. While this was happening, Harry along with Hermione helped the wizarding world rebuild itself from the ruin Voldemort had placed it in. Unnecessary laws were taken down, and Hermione was finally given the chance to make others hear about the wrongness of keeping laws that restricted Dark Creatures. She brought to life the reason why some Dark Creatures went to the dark lord for freedom, and while some wizards and witches weren't willing to accept the Dark Creatures into their society, with Harry Potter backing her up others were willing to hear the smart muggleborn out. Soon, after months of speeches, interviews, and meetings, steps were being set up to insure that some laws restricting the Dark Creatures were taken down and that new ones that will actually helped Dark Creatures would replace them. Harry just wished that Remus was still alive to see these changes happening.

Harry had been asked in the man's will to look after Teddy, also naming the parentless baby as Harry's godson. Harry, while still mourning over Remus and Tonks deaths, looked after Teddy to the best of his ability. During that time he had the Black Manor redecorated and cleaned until it was the perfect place to live and raise a family in. Harry had remembered how nervous he was as he asked Neville to move into Black Manor with him, and the elation he had felt when Neville had readily agreed.

Harry had moved himself, Neville, Andromeda, and Teddy into the manor where Harry had received help in taking care of Teddy from Andromeda. Harry had never been so happy than to have Neville and Teddy in his life, and soon that feeling had spread to Andromeda who Harry saw as the grandmother he never had. Soon they were a family who worked together and knew each other like the back of their hands. And while the reporters hounded Harry for detailed events of what had happened, and as fans that now held him as the Man-Who-Conquered swarmed him every time he stepped outside, Harry couldn't be any happier.

It was as he was playing with a happy Teddy that he found a small, soft velvet box inside the baby's thankfully empty diaper. He had pulled it out curiously and opened it, only to gasp at the beautiful ring inside. He felt arms wrap around his waist and a kiss being placed on top of his head as the words "Would you marry me, Harry James Potter?" was whispered into his ear. Harry had turned around and had kissed Neville deeply, only pulling back long enough to say "Yes!" and to grin at the giggling baby watching them.

Andromeda and Molly, who needed some happiness to help her with the grieving of her Fred, helped in planning the wedding. And while it wasn't big with only close family and friends being invited, it was counted in Harry's books as one of the best moments of his life.

Harry had thought it was impossible, but he and Neville had grown closer together, almost to the point where they knew what the other needed without them even needing to voice it. It was as Harry and Neville were taking baby Teddy a bath after the baby had knocked over his mashed peas all over himself that Harry realized that the family he had always wished for had finally came to him.

The two years and three months it took for the reconstruction of Hogwarts to be finished were the best two years of Harry's life. And it was with a happy heart that he and Neville went back to Hogwarts to finish their seventh year. All the seventh year students who had chosen to come back were kept together as there wasn't enough room for them in their Houses. Harry and Malfoy had come together to make amends, and while they weren't friends, Harry could say that they were at least acquaintances.

Harry had spent this year focusing on his study work, having fun with his friends, and falling deeper in love with Neville. He had managed to score amongst the top ten of his year and while it took some thinking, Harry realized that the thing he wanted to do for his life was take care of his family. Harry accepted the job George had offered him to manage the joke shop and together they made sure that the shop was kept as the best joke shop in Britain. Everything that Harry had to do could be done from home, so that left him with the perfect time to handle Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and raise Teddy.

The years had passed by with Harry having new moments added to his life that he loved thinking back on the quiet moments he and Neville shared in bed together, Harry with his head resting on Neville's chest as they talked quietly and waited for sleep to overcome them. One moment was them discussing the idea of having a child together as they watched a five year old Teddy run around the playground happily.

A month later, with the help of male pregnancy potions, Harry was diagnosed as three weeks pregnant. The growth of their unborn child was the moment that Harry found that he loved his family for being able to put up with his mood swings and food cravings. While Harry was never the type of person to be able to sit still for long, he made sure to be careful when pregnant with their unborn child, not wanting to do anything that would harm their baby.

Harry's love for Teddy had never wavered, not even when Noah Albus Potter-Longbottom was born in late November. Teddy had been happy that he would have a little brother, and Harry had many moments of where he watched as Teddy played with Noah as much as the baby was able to handle. He, when he had been feeding baby Teddy, had decided that he needed to take pictures of all the moments and tape all the milestones Teddy had and had added little Noah into this. Now there were pictures and videos of a little black haired baby with hazel-brown eyes alongside Teddy's and many more as they grew older.

It was when Teddy was ten and Noah was four, about to turn five, when the discussion of having another baby was brought up. This time it took about two days for Harry to get pregnant. The second pregnancy went a lot smoother now that Harry knew what he was able to do while pregnant that wouldn't harm the unborn child and it was in early July that Harry had went into labor and the regular cesarean was performed to bring little Phoebe Lily Potter-Longbottom into the world.

Little Phoebe had Harry's messy black hair, much to his amusement and Neville's mock-dismay, and Harry was glad that his little girl had his green eyes after the true color was revealed.

It was with a heavy heart as Harry watched Teddy waved from the window of a compartment on the Hogwarts Express that he was on. This was Teddy's first year at Hogwarts and Harry could only hope that the year was much easier for Teddy than it was for him.

With Teddy gone, most of Harry's focus went to taking care of Phoebe and Noah. He made sure that the children didn't wonder over to Neville's section of the garden where he grew his plants for customers that requested them. Harry would never understand how people would pay so much money for some of the plants his husband grew, but Harry was glad that Neville was doing something that he loved.

The Christmas break soon came with Teddy telling them of what happened. While Harry had received letters from his godson on what happened, it was much better to hear it all in person. Harry always made sure that the holidays were something that his children would always remember; he wanted his children to have everything that he never had growing up as a child. Soon the Christmas break was over and Teddy was back in Hogwarts for the rest of the school year.

Life after that passed by with many more happy memories for Harry and his family, one of which was the birth of their two twin boys, Nathan Sirius Potter-Longbottom and Nelson Severus Potter-Longbottom. It was then that Harry felt that his family was completed, and after discussing this with Neville, they agreed that five children were enough for them.

Harry now had four handsome sons and a beautiful daughter that he loved dearly and a wonderful husband who cared and loved him and who he loved back. He watched as his children grew up to become respectful adults, and watched as they fell in love themselves and started their own families. Harry loved the grandchildren he and Neville received and Harry couldn't be any happier.

Harry and Neville were healthy wizards, so they aged as regular wizards and witches do. Harry watched with sorrowful eyes as Neville's coffin was lowered into the ground, having died peacefully at an age that was considered old amongst the wizarding world. Harry was comforted by his children as he cried silently from his spot near Neville's gravestone. Life had been tough after that, going to bed each night without his love next to him; waking up everyday with the knowledge that his husband wasn't going to be there when he opened his eyes.

Harry now lay in bed, too weak to move as he knew his time was coming. He wasn't afraid of death. How could he when he knew that he would be able to see his loved ones in the afterlife. His mum, his dad, Sirius and Remus, and Neville are all there waiting for him. Harry listened to the radio, the machine being on the station he and Neville had loved to listen to late at night. The music playing soothed him as he watched his children and their children and their grandchildren crying over him. His friends and their children were in the room with him, too. Harry was happy that his family was with him at this moment, not wanting to die alone.

Harry turned his head to the picture of him and Neville on their wedding day and smiled, closing his eyes as he drifted into a restful sleep, ready to see his loved ones in the next Great Adventure.

-End Chapter-

**Author's Note:** And...done! Really sorry for the long wait, the idea on how to take this one-shot wouldn't come to me, the only thing that I had to go on was the last paragraph. I really loved how things went in this one-shot; a lot shorter than the previous one-shot, but I love how it is. I didn't want to copy the names Rowling gave Harry's kids, so I came up with them on my own. I'm always making my own characters so I got a baby naming book for the 21st century to help find names for them and it was tough choosing which name to give to Harry's and Neville's children.

Really hope you all enjoyed this one-shot, I had fun writing it and hoped you all enjoyed it! Leave a review on your way out!

All of my stories are over on AO3, so if any of you prefer to read over there you can find me under: _LadyArachne_

And I have a Twitter account under SpiderRealm. If this doesn't show up when I upload this, I'll post a link in my profile. Updates on my stories and other things will be there! ***grins***

Until the next chapter, cya!

-Lady Arachne


	8. Purple

**Color Coding-** Lady Arachne

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Harry Potter_, or anything related.

**Summary:** The colors used in plays have their meanings, each one a bit different from the others. These colors can best show the milestones and other moments in Harry's and Neville's relationship. One-Shots. (slash)

**Word Count:** 530

**Purple:** mournful, mystic, regal

**Author's Note:** post-war

-Chapter 8: Purple-

Neville had known all his life that this day would come. He's been told many times that his parents would never be healed of their brain injuries caused by the intense curse they had been under, but Neville had held out the hope that one day his dad would recognize him instead of staring into space, or that instead of giving him candy wrappers his mother would come to hug him and say his name. Both would have been signs that there was a possibility of his parents returning to their normal selves, to become the people he's heard so many stories about.

Neville stared down at his parents' grave, holding back tears as his grandmother cried silently besides him. It had been foolish of him to think that once the war was over everybody would be safe. He should have known that a rogue Death Eater would see his parents as the perfect way to get revenge for their fallen Dark Lord. A simple cutting hex to the neck gave them a quick and painless death, and Neville was grateful for that. He didn't think he could have handle knowing that his parents had died in pain while he had been playing with the five month old Teddy with Harry laughing on in his new home.

He had made sure that that Death Eater was caught, and he was happy with the knowledge that the Death Eater was rotting away in Azkaban with the other guilty followers of Voldemort.

Neville had paid for all the preparations for the funeral, his grandmother too stricken with grief to do the job herself, and made sure that his parents had a funeral fit for a king and his queen, in respect for the people they had once been. His father had looked so regal in what were his best robes his grandmother had kept, along with his mother's favorite attire, who looked splendid in it even in death.

Neville wiped away the tears that had spilled out and pulled Harry closer against his side. He looked down at his fiancé and stared at the mournful face and knew that his face had the same expression. He petted a silent Teddy's currently dark blue hair and pressed a soft kiss to the top of Harry's head, all the while holding them both close to him. Harry laid his head on Neville's shoulder, offering any comfort he could give to his future husband.

Neville turned back to the tombstone and gazed sadly at them. Neville knew that they would die, knew that he and his grandmother couldn't possibility allow them to continue living knowing that there was no hope of them ever being cured; he just wished he had the chance to say goodbye to them before they had died. He just hoped that his parents were in a better place where they weren't insane and were happily living their afterlife with each other and their deceased friends and family.

Neville smiled at the mystic thoughts and tilted his head back. He stared at the clear blue skies and smiled, whispering a silent goodbye to his parents as he allowed his tears to fall.

-End Chapter-

**Author's Note:** And there we go, chapter eight! I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get this update; the charger to my laptop was messing up and wouldn't work no matter what position I held it in. I tried it one last time and found that it was working and immediately copied this from the copy paper I wrote it on before the charger messed up again. Now it's the middle of the night and I got the charger to work again and had quickly proofread this chapter again and uploaded it.

I hope you all enjoyed it; it had been tough deciding what to write for the color purple. When I had came up with this in May, I had written the colors and their meanings down along with what I was going to write for each color. The little note I had for the color purple didn't make sense to write as I had already wrote about Neville's thoughts on seeing Harry's 'dead' body at the Final Battle, so I had to come up with something else for the color purple and this was what came up!

Leave a review of your thoughts for this collection, I love hearing from you guys. I really appreciate those who had followed and favorite this story, I'm so glad that people are enjoying this! ***grins***

And on a last note, all of my stories are other on AO3, so if any of you prefer to read over there you can find me under: _Lady Arachne_

And, I have a twitter account where I post updates of my stories and life in general, if any of you are interested you can find me under (at sign)SpiderRealm.

Until the next chapter, cya!

-Lady Arachne


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